Chapter 3

This time I answered. Eric sounded irritated.

"Do you know Tristan?"

"No."

"A guy like him, standing up for a girl he doesn't even know?"

Eric scoffed. "Don't think that sweet little voice of yours will work on him too."

But three years earlier, Eric had been the one to seek me out.

It was Christmas, and every home was lit up as families gathered together.

Meanwhile, my father was mercilessly humiliating me for refusing the marriage.

"Forget what you want. I'm more worried they will reject a pig like you!"

I was curled up in the dark, crying, when Eric called me.

Given who he was, I picked up. He demanded to know which brother I would choose.

I stammered that I didn't want to marry anyone.

Suddenly his attitude changed. "Was I too harsh?

"Your voice is so sweet. If you cry too much, you'll go hoarse."

Back then, he'd been so gentle. Now, on the phone, he sounded like a completely different person.

I was quiet for a couple of seconds. "So?"

On the other end, he was clearly getting angrier.

"You really want to make me say it?

"Emma, Jasmine told me two years ago.

"The biggest woman at that party was my fiancée."

So everything had changed after that party two years earlier.

After Eric first heard my voice, he stopped bringing up the marriage.

Instead, he began pursuing me relentlessly.

He stayed up with me night after night, making me laugh.

Then my father forced me to come home and cut me off financially.

Through it all, Eric liked and shared my work.

He even secretly bought my paintings through an anonymous account.

Touched, I cautiously admitted that I wasn't exactly slim.

"Who says being big isn't beautiful?

"Emma, your soul is as pure as your paintings.

"It's your soul I like."

His words won me over.

At the time, business between our families was going well.

The Don hadn't agreed to the marriage outright.

But he suggested the two families host a party together.

I believed what Eric had told me.

I thought maybe I deserved to be loved.

Afraid I'd embarrass him, my father told everyone I was still studying abroad and forbade me from going.

But I went anyway, secretly.

I only wanted to catch a glimpse of Eric from afar.

It was after that party that he suddenly went cold on me.

Before, he had called me at least twice a day.

Afterward, I got nothing but good morning and good night messages.

I asked him what was wrong.

He said the Blade family had put him in charge of the West Side, and he was busy.

But come on, who goes an entire day without checking their phone these days?

It turned out he had recognized me long ago.

"Let's call it what it was: fun and games. Do you know how many beautiful women I've got around me?

"Someone your size? I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole."

I asked, "Then why didn't you break up with me back then?"

My question caught Eric off guard. He gave me no answer.

But I knew exactly why.

My mother had found out how attentive he'd been to me.

She had quietly given him access to some of the plantations in her own name.

He didn't want to lose what he was getting from her, but he didn't want to marry me either.

"I've been more than fair to you."

His voice was frighteningly cold. "There's no way Tristan would ever choose you.

"So no matter who you marry, the rest of your life is going to be miserable.

"But if you call off the engagement yourself, I might just help you leave the country."

I gripped my phone. A dull ache still lingered in my chest.

Once I had that answer, the ache faded.

So he had never really meant to marry me.

Eric didn't want my family resources to end up in Tristan's hands.

He was humiliating me to force me to call off the engagement.

He'd already made a fortune off my mother's plantations.

Now all he had to do was pin the blame for the failed engagement on me.

That way, he could escape the family's wrath and get away with everything.

My heart had never felt so cold.

I started recording the call and kept my voice flat.

"Well, aren't you generous."

Eric missed the sarcasm. His tone softened.

"Emma, use your head.

"Don't bother showing up tomorrow. Jasmine will be there too.

"And if you do, I'll make sure she's standing right next to you. Then you'll know what real humiliation feels like."

I asked slowly, "She does whatever you say?"

The line went quiet.

"You've still got time to worry about her?

"While I'm still willing to help you get out of the country, you'd better start thinking about where you'll go once you call off the engagement."

I laughed.

Tomorrow's birthday party was going to be even livelier than I'd thought.